Simple question: Overflow Tank vs. Resevoir

I hope you get this sorted out. You need to be real careful about head gaskets. After a while it is going to give out and boom. Water gets in, the piston seizes and shoots out the rod either through the block or the oil pan. In my casei t was the oil pan. It made a 2 and half inch whole where a mixture of oil and coolant drained out onto the street. Thank God I was on a rural road with no traffic. Just be careful.
 
I can almost always 'burp' my system by running the car at idle with the radiator cap off..the circulation brings the air bubbles (a bit at a time) to the open radiator neck and they 'blurp blurp' away.....add water as necessary. Shut off car, let things settle, check water level. Add as necessary. You may have to do it several times to get the air out.

Oftentimes you can check your temp gauge as it idles...if/when a steam pocket goes by the sender the temp will "spike" momentarily..and then settle down as the pocket goes on by.

HTH
 
I have tried a few times to see maybe if there is air in the system.... just maybe not "several times". The problem is even when I run it until it warm and the thermostat is functioning... I'll fill it up... and then if I drive it.. the system will expand and again spit out more coolant. Then when it's suppossed to retract... it doesn't.... it'll grab air for some reason. I've checked all the connections... they're seal tight.

The system seems to find a happy place..... but then when I beat the snot out of it a little it just seems like a bunch of pressure builds in the system and wants to blow out coolant. The car really only get hot when the coolant gets low.

Crazy stuff!!